Sunday, 14 May 2017

That first warm summer evening when you can have dinner in the green and the wind is warm and soft.

Sudden snuggle-ups and love declarations from your child.

Twin Peaks.

Anything with chocolate. Well, almost anything.
(and then I wonder why some of my clothes won't fit me in the waist anymore. If they don't fit my behind it's of course just because of my squatting and heavy weight leg pressing at them gym, obviously.)
ps. Pictured are the almost healthy chocolate raw food muffins.

Gardening. You know all those things they say about gardening and life and so on. All true.

Tuesday, 9 May 2017

I have noticed that keeping a jug of water on the table with stuff in helps me get closer to the goal of drinking enough water during the day (as in opposite of having a jug with just plain water, or no jug at all). And even better, it also helps the kids and man in the house to drink more too, which is a big bonus. The water we get is good and tasteless, but a hint of berry or herb in it makes it more appealing none the less, and is also pretty to look at.Here are three ideas on how to spice up your water -

Strawberries, cinnamon-basil and a dash of apple cider vinegar.
I came across cinnamon-basil in the store the other day but any kind of basil will of course do.

Orange and rosemary.

My colleague Tink came up with this one: Pineapple chunks and fresh mint. Try it by putting the pineapple bits in the freezer for a while before dropping them in the water.

Sunday, 7 May 2017

It's finally warm and sunny! Yesterday was the first day without socks outside!
There is hope after all!

Here I tried to swing like a happy monkey in a tree, to illustrate the fact that it's warm and and one can now go bazonkas and so on, but turns out it was harder than I thought. Plus I kind of got a little worried the branch would crack and hit me in the head and I'd basically die blogging. But as you can't be totally fabulous or witty all the time you get my attempt here anyway.

This was also a sneaky outfit post. The top is from Freddies of Pinewood and the lurex thingies are h&m.

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

Last Sunday we turned our studio into interstellar space -or intergalactic if you so like- they way it would look if an, umm, elementary school or some kind of vaudevillian basement theatre put up a play about space. We really wanted it to look adorably crappy on one hand with our small self made planets and things hanging by the help of string and clothes pins but on the other hand still keep it on the right side of being deliberately camp (the way we like it) as well as to function as the optional drawing detail or background inspiration.

The navigators of the ship with the brave cosmonaut.
(Our space aesthethics always tend to be rather b-movie retrotastic.)

So as you know from what I've written before, Dr.Sketchy's is a worldwide concept of "alternative" live model drawing. There have been Dr.Sketchy events in Finland for a decade now, and last autumn Tinker Bell and I revived the Helsinki branch.

We make sure our Sketchy-playlists suit the themes as well and this time we had Bowie and Star Wars scores and such, the usual songs about space that you'd expect, but also the Nasa space recordings of planets for ecample (the ones where the electromagnetic radio waves of the planets are converted into sound waves. Space oooout man!-stuff. You can find those on Spotify too.) Some sound rather "mechanical" and eerie sounding and others sound like some new age meditation stuff or the chill out room at a trance party in 2001. (They probably still sound like that, the chill out rooms, but as we all know I don't go to those anymore. Phew.).

And while we're at it: did you know that they wanted to put The Beatles' Here Comes The Sun on the golden record(s) that are on the Voyager satellites but the record company declined? The internet has told me so. Among many other things*

Johnny posing and attendees drawing.

*) I'm a big space fan; a nightly reader of all things space.Me: So have you seen this video where my favourite astronaut-Johnny: Wait, you have a favourite astronaut?Tinker: Of course she does
Some part of me will obviously always be an 11-year old kid.

(Altough, to be honest, it's more about space time and gravity and trying to grasp the endlessness, about philosophical views on cosmos fas well as random weird facts for me, rather than space ships and astronauts, Star Trek and scifi. I like reading about things I have a hard time comprehending, like quantum physics for example. But space ships and astronauts can be worth some night time googling too; and I happen to think this space water here is cool (wash my hair in space though
.)

Ok so one more space-thing, because this bothered and freaked me out as a kid (and, ehrm, perhaps at some moments in my adult life too), but: no astronaut has ever fallen off a space ship and drifted off for eternity into space. You can sleep at night now, you're welcome!
(But your fingernails might come off though. Aaaaa!)

But back to our own little cosmos in Helsinki now.

Drawing by Minka Lindfors.

Thanks to Johnny and everyone who attended! The next Helsinki Sketchy will be July 8, and that one we'll have at Mascot (and when night falls we'll continue the evening with our summer's Rubies Klubit event)! Don't miss that one.

Monday, 1 May 2017

Vappu. Valborg. Vappen. The most likely biggest of the Finnish festivities! Party-wise, I guess. If the city empties at Midsummer Vappu is the opposite - the city is full of thousands and thousands of celebrating people. We've had mead and funnel cakes and donuts for a the past days and I'm getting rather stuffed by now.

Vappen is a festivity for quirky hats and faux noses and costumes and serpentines and confetti (and just making a mess our of everything in general). Kindergartens and schools most often have a masquerade they day before Vappu. Last year Dag was a ninja, this year he went as his latest obsession: a knight!

Costumes that I wore when I was little included princess (quelle surprise), medieval lady and cowgirl.

I've spent most of my Vappu-day, as in the day after; 1st of May, out on town celebrating since early morning, and even those years I was on shift in the harbour I tried to sneak in a visit to to the park before work. Lots of fun memories ever since my early childhood years. The tradition of Valborg, which itself goes way back in time has been celebrated in today's form, with partying on the streets, balloons and picnics and such, since the 1800's. On first of May labour's day and marches meet academic festivities and a sea of white graduation caps.

First of may on the Observatory Hill of Kaivopuisto.Arvo Kajante 1959. Helsingin kaupunginmuseo.

Above are photos from celebrations in Helsinki from past days; the Helsinki City museum has released a site -helsinkikuvia.fi- where you can browse and download their collection of 40,000 photographies of Helsinki from then and now, with a free-to-use-if credited license. A lot of interesting and nostalgic pics! So I checked out Vappu-celebrations from past times; turns out they had as shitty weather as we do back in 1899 as well for example. And 1957 and 1929. Phew.

Drawing by A.Federley of their first of May in 1899. Helsingin kaupunginmuseo.

But when you've blogged for a decade (!!) you get quite the archive of your own life during those years as well.
This year, as I was working in the day and as Eddi is away on work in Shiraz I am just staying at home in bed with a glass of, in fact, Shiraz as well (going for that old traditional, but with newly found internet fame, mode of kalsarikännit. Well not really, but close enough. Not drunk but no pants.) I browsed some of my own Vappus from the last years -

2010 we were out with Eddi and some friends on town. (And it was cold. Not like now, but I was freezing in my dress.Weather is such a factor here.). Just remembered that the Vappu before we had been on a day-date after having been on a break and I biked to work in the sunshine wondering weather it would turn into something or not.

2011 we got engaged in the pale May night on our way home after a long odyssey of park picnics and suburbian bars. It was warm and I wore a 50's dress and my big pink petticoat that I managed to spill beer on and Eddi picked me a yellow dandelion and gave me a ring. (We had actually booked our wedding in Vegas by then already but it was still a sweet move.)

2012 I was super pregnant amd we went to a Vappu brunch after the park.

2013 Eddi was in Bolivia and I was home on the countryside with Dag minding my flowers and drinking beer. Kind of like now, heh.
And I got carried away at my son's first chance for a Vappu balloon and got him two. Dag has a dinosaur balloon this year as well btw (< THE INTERNET HAS TO KNOW!)

But I also brought Dag to his first First of May park experience then!
I remember he started screaming so hard in the bus (that was packed) on our way downtown I had to get off and wait for another one. Not very surprisingly we went for brunch after the park.
(Most restaurants organise late brunches on May 1st. )

Last year we stayed out on the countryside and had some friends over for bbq and fixed up my old car. And yes it was so much warmer than now. And no, that's not a real butt.

PROFILE

About life on the burlesque stage and behind my mac. I do design, pilates and red lips, enjoy wine and beautiful dresses, am fond of high heels and fancy hair, monkeys and seamen. I love rautalanka, my cats and my car. And most of all my little Dag and my Eddi. And I don't think anyone should take themselves too seriously!. This blog is about a little bit of everything actually, mainly the good stuff. To contact me send mail to: freelancersfashion@gmail.com but do note that I am not interested in taking "guest posts" or any other form of advertising anything for free. Read the "Please Note" section under the header first.